Despite the Labour government elected in 1964 promising no further major railway cutbacks, an active campaign to save the line was lost when on 6 September 1965, the closure consent covering most of the
S&D▸ and the line to Bristol via Mangotsfield was issued. Tom Fraser was the Minister of Transport at the time. That consent was followed by another for Broadstone station and Creekmoor Halt as these stops had also been served by another passenger service, though that had already been withdrawn.
Closure scheduled for 3 January 1966 was deferred when one of the road operators withdrew his application for a licence to provide some of the alternative road services, and an emergency service was introduced on that date instead. This reduced the number of trains departing Bath to four a day (06:45, 08:15, 16:25 and 18:10), and two a day (06:55 and 16:00) from Highbridge. There were no through trains other than the 18:46 from Bournemouth Central on Saturdays, with journeys being broken at Templecombe and no suitable connections provided. There were no services on Sundays. Finally, on
7 March 1966 the whole S&D line from Bath to Bournemouth – and also the Evercreech Junction to Highbridge line – was closed under the Beeching Axe and dismantled.
Public domain map - Somerset and Dorset in 1875.
Bridgwater Branch and Wimbourne cutoff added later
It's somewhat sad that here we are, so many years later, bemoaning the lack of connectivity by public transport from Bristol and Bath to Poole and Bournemouth across the Western Gateway subnational transport body area. What's the current status of the alternative road services?
This was the second station in Wilton, the Great Western Railway (GWR▸ ) having opened one on their adjacent route in 1856. To avoid confusion between the two stations the former SR‡ station became 'Wilton South' in September 1949, and at the same time the former GWR station became "Wilton North". The North station closed to passengers in 1955 but goods continued to be handled there until 1965. In the meantime, at the South station goods traffic ceased on 6 July 1964 and then passenger services were also withdrawn on 7 March 1966.
And should not there be a station at Wilton now?